Thursday, February 9, 2017

It is obvious that emotions and states of mind come and go like hemlines,
hairstyles and homophobia. Fear, anger and stupidity are the new black. This hit
me while the Beatles tune Nowhere Man ran through my mind (recorded in October of
1965).

Lennon, who wrote the song claimed it came to him when he felt low and
defeated. “I'd spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was
meaningful and good, and I finally gave up and lay down. Then 'Nowhere Man'
came, words and music, the whole damn thing as I lay down.” This wasn’t about
rockers looking down on middle class, aimless wage slaves wondering fruitlessly
to the grave. It came from a place of empathy. His heart went out to those who struggled
and found themselves nowhere. Odds are, he was also drifting in a smoky haze,
but that’s beside the point.

Being civil didn’t start in the 60s, of course. Some would say it ended
there – at least by the late 60s. The common theme for every character Jimmy
Stuart ever played was empathy and compassion. It used to be when we went to
war that the people at home sacrificed and grew victory gardens remembering
those who they put in harm’s way. The most important thing in every war was to
end it as quickly as possible. Now, we’re encouraged to binge shop. It’s
patriotic.

And that’s where we find the motive for the murder. Empathy and
compassion didn’t die of natural causes. They were strangled so that the masses
could be more easily manipulated into sending the poor to war; manipulated into
bombing random countries for the profit of the rich. Hemlines go up and down so
that people will buy new clothes. Empathy and compassion went out of style so
that the rich could more easily justify the slaughter that makes them richer.

Of course, I’m not the first to notice this. What’s so funny about
peace, love and understanding, after all?